Open Your Eyes
by KrisstapherDollquette
Summary: The prequel to "Your Eyes are Closed". The way Tai and Matt first got together.


Disclaimer: I do not own anything about these characters or the show they are affiliated with.

Open Up Your Eyes

I guess I'll start about eight months ago. Mimi and I had just broken up literally five minutes prior, and being upset I had locked myself in my closet atop a futon reserved for guests sleeping over, holding my cell phone in one hand and digivise in the other. While the cell phone was shut off to hide from the phone call Mimi had just graced me with, I didn't wanna let it go. The digivice was just something I always had; even at 17 years old I sometimes held onto it like a security blanket. You know, it just made me feel safe.

So, I was in the closet sitting on a futon feeling miserable and worthless cuz my girlfriend of 8 months had left me because she felt we'd drifted apart (totally false, she was just wanting to have a guy in her skirt and I wasn't really up for it). You may go as far as to imagine that my face was a tad wet, eyes a little pink, nose stuffy to a minimal; and since I was all upset and everything I obviously wasn't paying any attention to much but the terrible hole from Mimi's betrayal. That's why I didn't hear the knock on my bedroom door, or when it opened the footsteps that followed. I never knew matt was there until he tossed open the closet door and looked down at me with those eyes of his; the ones that don't show what's going on behind them.

"She did it," matt said with a sigh as he motioned for me to scoot over. I was so surprised that I could barely move over, I almost just sat there and stared at him.

Now, I dunno what he would have done for anyone else, but we've been skin tight since our dig destined days, and he climbed into the tiny space with me and closed the door behind him. He put an arm around my shoulders and the only thing he said was that I'd find what I really need right before my eyes when I opened them. Didn't have a clue what he was talking about at the time but it made me feel better anyway.

After about a week I was feeling better and more like myself. I attribute it to matt coming over every day and making me do things to keep my mind off of Mimi. He had me studying those school nights like I was izzy or Joe; I cant remember ever having so much info from a book bouncing around my head.

Matt had a show Friday night with his band, and pretty much he got my mom to let me stay the weekend at his place, packed my bag, and when I got out of the shower (which is where I'd been during his plot) he dragged me out of the house.

"What's going on?" I asked, confused and trying to get my wrist out of matt's grip.

"You're staying with me this weekend," was his reply, a flashing pair of blue eyes pointed in my direction.

I cocked my head to the side, curiosity and confusion getting the better of me. Matt never let anyone over to his house. Even T.K., who was so much more the extroverted people person than his brother, had never, to my knowledge, let another person into their home. No one in the group even knew where it was they lived. Now, I'm not the deepest end of the pool but I understood the implications behind him letting me into his home (or forcibly kidnapping me to his home, whatever works in your favor): Matt was letting me closer to him.

Matt let my wrist go and handed me my own bag as I waved goodbye to my mom.

"I thought you'd like to get out of the house and do something for a change. My band has a set tonight at the arcade," Matt shared the details of his master plan.

"How long we gonna be out?" I asked.

"Well the set starts at 7, we play for two hours, and then we all pack up. So I guess we'll be out till around 10 unless we can find more to do after that."

"I thought bands like yours had groupies that they had parties with after you played your shows." I said it kind of questioningly. I had never been to a concert actually; I was only going off of what I'd seen on TV.

Matt gave me a raised eyebrow. "We aren't that famous. We only attract maybe a few hundred people at the most, not a few thousand."

"Well the point is that we'll be back at your place by around 11 and I will have a night of peace and quiet away from Kari's ddr addiction," I said with utter enthusiasm.

"She's still playing that?" Matt asked.

"Like an evil foot-stomping demon," I replied.

We kept up the back and forth until we reached Matt's apartment building. Now, I was expecting regular bachelor stuff since they lived on their own, but I wasn't even remotely prepared for what I saw when he opened the door.

T.K. turned to face us as we came in, his face hidden behind a dust mask to escape the overwhelming scent of lemon cleaner. Everything from the walls to the furniture was utterly spotless. And you know how you can walk into someone's house and smell the mess it was before they cleaned for your arrival? That was nonexistent.

Matt noticed my expression and decided to let me in on the predicament.

"T.K. is a clean-freak."

Enough said; I could understand the story from there.

"What're you doing here?" T.K. asked, as confused to my being in his living room as I was to learn his secret cleaning habit.

"He's staying the weekend with us," Matt answered from the kitchen as he rummaged through what looked to be over-stocked food shelves. He caught my stare again. "T.K. is also on the fast route to becoming a Prepper; you know, one of those nuts who get ready for the end of the world by getting tons of food together,"

"Hey it could happen any time! That's why we have to keep the house clean so no germs can infect us during an early pandemic. And we may have to bed down in here for weeks in that event so we need the food. Honestly you'll thank me when something goes down," T.K. admonished his older brother.

Matt came in, throwing me an apple soda before landing on the sofa. "I'll thank you if, and only if, something that bad happens and I happen to survive."

T.K. rolled his eyes.

"Why do you go for the lemon scented stuff?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, Matt's nose can't really handle the harsher cleaning smells even though he can stand cigarettes just fine." The last part seemed like a verbal stab in my opinion. It was well known that Matt was a smoker, and T.K. did nothing to hide his dislike of it.

Matt stuck out his tongue at the younger boy, to which T.K. flipped him off in his yellow rubber gloves before heading to the back of the apartment with a mop bucket.

"Try to keep the cleaning to a minimal please!" Matt called after his younger brother.

For a while we played video games online from his Xbox and just did regular hanging out kind of things. Nothing fancy or exciting. We left the apartment at around six to get to the arcade where he was going to be performing that night. He met up with his band mates and was setting up when I decided to explore.

I wasn't feeling very comfortable around his other friends. I felt really out of the loop. They're all really "fashionable", seem uptight, and didn't seem to really like me. I'm able to catch on to people's facial clues and got myself excused as fast as I could. These were Matt's friends and I didn't want to start anything.

I wandered around the arcade for a while as they got themselves warmed up for their set. There were tons of games, including free games that you didn't win tokens from but were entertaining nonetheless.

At 8 I made my way back to where they were going to perform only to find the entire area swarming with people. I chose to stand on the landing of the next story up and watch the show from the railing where I had a much better view.

I had never seen someone so comfortable on a stage. Matt was more than in his element in front of all those eyes; something that I had a lot of respect for. I'm only comfortable under the scrutiny of my friends; strangers take the steam out of me.

The music wasn't bad; I even have some of their songs on my mp3 player now. I stood up there the whole time looking down on the milling fans. They all had a movement, like they were all part of a dance set to the songs. It was a pretty amazing thing to see, but I was distracted by thinking that Matt was watching me. I had the feeling of his eyes on me even though with the multicolored flashy lights and the space between us I couldn't really see him all that well; and I couldn't think why he'd be watching me anyway. So I tried to put it out of my mind, enjoy the show, that sort of thing.

When they finished the last song I waited where I was until the majority of "groupies" had dispersed before going downstairs.

"Bravo! Bravo!" I cheered, clapping as I drew up to the stage where the band members were putting away their instruments and wiping themselves with cold towels.

Matt flashed me a grin as he toweled his sweaty hair. His face was flushed and I could tell he was still pumped up. "Thanks. Did you like the show?"

"It was great; I need to come see more of these," I answered him

He was sitting on the edge of the stage, and for a second he paused the toweling and leaned towards me. In a low voice he said, "If you want, I'd give you private shows whenever you want. All you have to do is ask."

I was confused by both what he said and how he'd said it. Not only that but the look in his eyes mad my stomach feel like it was full of live worms. I don't know what made me say it because at the time I wasn't romantically interested in my friend, but I responded with, "I'd really like that." I beamed a grin up at him.

I can't tell you what he was thinking because his face blanked out. He still looked full of adrenaline and on top of the world, but to any of the first Digi-Destined it was obvious he was thinking something. I knew better than to pry into what he was processing, knowing that he would only let it out if he was ready.

Matt finished packing up, that look still on his face, and we headed over to a street lined on both sides by food vendors. A takoyaki stand ended up being our destination and we ate our meal in large bites as we talked. I couldn't remember what we talked about though; all I really remember is that Matt didn't seem to be fully into the conversation. He was focused internally even after we left the stand in search of ice-cream.

We were shoveling tiny spoonfuls of ice cream as we walked through the park on our way back to Matt's apartment when I veered off to a branching trail.

"Where are you going?" Matt called after me.

"The swings; come on!"

I was already sitting on the plastic seat trying to gain some momentum when Matt reached me, watching me with a smirk as I tried in vain to hold onto my ice cream and swing at the same time. Matt held out his free hand. I gratefully passed it over to him then proceeded to swing until at the highest point I was nearly level with the bar.

"I think I just licked your ice cream," Matt said, giving my ice cream a befuddled look.

I laughed. "That's considered inadvertently kissing me."

"That makes no sense."

"Of course it does."

"How so?" Matt asked.

I turned my head as I swung so I could look at him. I laughed a bit. "I had my mouth on that ice cream, and then you licked it. Kissing is just putting your mouth to someone else's so when you licked my mouth germs it was inadvertently like kissing me. Sucks for you too because I'm amazing it the real act."

Matt only responded with a smirk.

"What?" I asked.

"What I've heard of your kissing prowess isn't all that great," he answered, hands turned up in a shrug.

I dug my feet into the gravel to bring myself to a stop. Adapting a look of 'no way', I stared wide-eyed at him. "Who told you that lie?!"

"Oh, I just… heard it around." He was barely concealing his smirk.

"Whoever told you that is an absolute liar!" I declared.

Matt chuckled. "You couldn't even prove them wrong if you marched up to them and tried."

A devious little idea came to me and I put it into motion before I lost the nerve. I leapt from the swing, landing in front of him, grasped him by the shoulders, and pressed my lips to his. My tongue plunged passed his lips, reaching for his uvula in an effort to prove my kissing worth. This was going on for a few seconds before I realized that Matt was kissing back. If someone could see into our mouths it probably looked like a war was waging between us for almost a full breathless minute.

I broke the connection and stepped back, gasping a little for the oxygen I had missed out on. My lips were numb. I looked at Matt; by the look on his face I knew my point was proven.

"Alright, you win. You can kiss decently," Matt conceded.

He handed back my ice cream and turned, motioning me to come along back to his place.

In the apartment again we laid out futons in his bedroom floor and turned on Netflix. Neither of us really watched it; we were so engrossed in our own thoughts that the show was just a good excuse not to talk.

I wanted to know what he was thinking. Something had gotten the wheels in his head spinning, and with the expression he was wearing I wasn't sure if the hamster was going to stop running before it dropped dead of exhaustion. What could I do to weasel it out of him? Well, I've lacked tact on more than one occasion haven't I?

"What have you been thinking about all night?" I asked, turning over to look at him, maybe gauge some answers from his expression. The only light in the room was the TV; we were at a point in the show where there was very little light so obviously I couldn't make out his face.

He stayed quiet for a few seconds and I thought he may be asleep.

"You and Mimi."

I strained my eyes but still couldn't really see him very well even from right beside me. "You were thinking about that?"

"Yeah. We always thought you and Sora would be together."

I turned over on my back and looked at the ceiling. "Yeah, so did I. but there's nothing I can do about it. She's homophobic. She lost her appeal after I found that out."

"So what got you with Mimi?"

"I don't know why I did it, but I think she was wanting a threesome. She really liked the idea of having two guys at once."

"Wait," Matt said, lifting himself to one shoulder. "Why did she think you'd be down with screwing her and another guy?"

"Oh, I don't really talk about it much but I don't have a gender preference. I Don't differentiate between males and females. I guess you could say I just go with who I like instead of what gender I like," I answered honestly. "That's why Sora doesn't have anything to do with me. She said she wants to be with me, but only if I "admit that I don't like men". She even threatened to tell my parents at one point."

"What did your parents have to do with it?"

I shrugged, even though he couldn't see it. "They agree with Sora's way of thinking. They would disown me if they knew being with a guy wouldn't bother me. That's why I hadn't brought the subject up before."

"That's a new development to me," Matt said, almost cryptically.

Aside from that conversation with Matt, Mimi was never in my thoughts. Even at school I didn't seem to see her when she passed right by me. She had hooked up with one of the swim team guys and was rumored to be disappearing into empty classrooms with him. Now, normally that would have upset me as I wouldn't be over the break up yet, but this didn't faze me. All it did was pass through my ears with an acknowledgment from my brain. What she did didn't matter to me.

Matt and I were inseparable at that point. All my weekends were spent at his house, weeknight at mine doing homework at breakneck pace. My parents thought Matt had become my personal tutor assigned from the school. I later learned the reason they thought that was because Matt came up with an official-looking report from the principal that said he'd been assigned to help me get my grades up to the school's median grade point average. This was entirely believable since my grades were abhorrent to say the least.

I was laying in my futon in Matt's room on a Saturday morning dead to the world, dreaming about something I don't remember when suddenly I was awoken by being dumped onto the floor.

"Get dressed quick; we're already 20 minutes late!" Matt said in a rush, throwing a shirt over his head and scrambling into a pair of jeans as I followed his lead.

I dressed as fast as possible and brushed by teeth at light speed. Within five minutes both of us were out the door and running towards the school.

"Where have you two been?!" Izzy demanded as we came into the room clutching our sides in pain.

"O-ver…slept," I panted between gasps of air.

"Well come on! I wanna go!" Yoli exclaimed impatiently, clearly she was aggravated.

Kari opened the gate and we all dove headfirst into the Digital World. It was nice to get back to my second home.

"TAI!"

I turned and spotted Agumon running my way over the sand.

"Agumon!" I met him halfway and he leapt into my arms. "How've you been buddy?"

"I've been great, what about you?"

"Same here."

I set Agumon down on the beach and he gave me a skeptical appraisal.

"You forgot we were going swimming today didn't you?" Agumon asked.

I looked down at myself and groaned. "We got up late. Guess I'm swimming in my boxers." I started to strip down.

Matt groaned, having made the same mistake and he begrudgingly stripped down to his boxers too.

I watched him from the corner of my eye, reminded of that night at the concert. His eyes met mine and I felt a little warmer, like I'd been caught doing something, I looked away.

"Feels nice to have the sun on my skin," Davis said. We had been lounging in the shallows, just relaxing. T.K. and Ken ere committing PDA about 20 feet away inside a little cove area. Everyone else had opted to go off exploring in the nearby tree line; everyone but Matt. He was at the edge where forest met beach sitting propped against a tree. I was pretty sure he'd had enough of the sun and surf as he was as much in the shade as he could get.

"It does feel great," I agreed. After two months of cold weather I was more than happy to toast myself and lay in the turquoise water.

Davis settled himself next to me and looked out at the sea.

"Sometimes I wish I could just live here and leave our world behind," Davis commented.

I nodded my agreement. "Wouldn't mind being able to get away from all the drama myself."

"Can't blame you for wanting to get away from that whole Mimi fiasco," Davis said.

"You knew about that?" I was surprised; it hadn't crossed my mind that other people knew about the breakup.

"Yeah; it's kinda obvious with her being hooked up with the American guy on the swim team and everything. Plus, Kari told me," Davis looked sheepish on that last note and I gave him a warning look. He gave me that goofy grin of his. "T.K. says you've been hanging with Matt a lot; anything going on there?"

That threw me off. "WHAT?!"

"C'mon, don't pretend. You're both bi and stuck together like glue since the Mimi thing. There's gotta be something going on."

"There's nothing happening with Matt and me; we're friends like we've always been-"

"Then why are you spending your every waking moment together?"

I contemplated for a moment. "He's been keeping me distracted from the breakup. He knows how hard I was taking it, that's all."

"Well, we thought you were hooking up," Davis said with a shrug, looking off into the distance.

"Who's 'we'?"

"Me and Ken and T.K…"

"What had them thinking that?!" I demanded. I wanted to know why people all of a sudden thought Matt and I were anything more than good friends all of a sudden.

Davis shrugged. "They said they saw something-"

Whatever Davis was going to say, I never heard it because I jumped up and made my way towards the cove where T.K. ad ken were. Sure, they may be doing something I didn't wanna see but my curiosity about what they saw overpowered that.

When I barged into the cove calling their names I ended up walking in on a very…heated doesn't seem to cover it.

"What is it?" T.K. asked, looking flushed in the face and worried that something had happened.

"What did you see that made you think anything of Matt and I?"

The boys exchanged a glance and T.K. spoke up. "We were walking in the park that first night you stayed over and … um…"

Ken finished for him. "We saw you kissing."

Now I knew what it was and I relaxed. "We weren't hooking up; I was just proving that I'm a great kisser."

They shared another glance.

"Are you sure?" T.K. asked.

"Looked a little intimate to us," Ken said.

I laughed and started to leave the area. Yeah, I'm sure; I was there after all."

Okay, so everyone thought we were together because T.K. and ken had seen something they had misinterpreted.

"Wait, who other than Davis did you tell?" I turned half around to ask.

"We didn't tell davis, he eavesdropped on us," Ken answered.

I immediately went back to Davis and asked him who he'd told.

"I haven't told anyone anything," Davis answered, and judging from his expression I decided he was telling the truth.

"Thanks. I'm gonna head for shade, wanna come?"

Davis shook his head. "I'm gonna soak up as much sun as I can get!"

I headed up the beach to where Matt was and laid myself out on the grass.

"Finally get tired of the digital UV rays?" he asked.

"I can only take so much sunlight before I need some shade."

Matt nodded his agreement. "So why'd you go interrupting T.K. and Ken?"

I was hesitant to confess what I knew, but it did involve Matt just as much as me so he deserved to know. "They saw us in the park and thought we were together."

That heat I'd felt earlier came back and I couldn't get myself to look at him.

"Hmm," was all Matt said.

We didn't talk for a long time after that. The whole time I felt like my skin was still exposed to the sun, even though I didn't go back into it until we left.

By now someone's probably starting to notice some obvious signs of what's going on. The heat, being unable to look him in the face, etc. I wont lie to you, you're on the right track. I still hadn't wised up to it yet myself, but not long after that it hit me like half a ton of digimon.

So, it was a Monday night and Matt wasn't there. It felt really weird to be home doing homework by myself now that I'd gotten so used to him being there throughout the week. Actually, the fact that he wasn't there was enough to distract me and I couldn't focus on studying; every time I tried my brain switched over to wondering what Matt was up to. After half an hour of this I gave it up as a lost cause.

Instead, I went and took a bath. As I sat in the hot water I let my mind wander about as it pleased, which turned out to be contemplating what Matt could be up to. He hadn't told me why he couldn't come over and I guess subconsciously I was a little hurt by that.

After my bath I could settle down to anything, eventually just going to bed, but even that made me think about Matt because for some reason I felt like the futon I use at his apartment would be more comfortable than my own bed.

Right then it dawned on me that it wasn't just that id be more comfortable in a futon, or that I just felt weird not having him around. I wanted him to be there with me. If he'd been in the room I'd have been as relaxes as I'd be in his apartment, the feeling of absence that he wasn't there wasn't because I was just used to having him there, it was an emptiness, and if I thought about it I knew id been feeling that way whenever he wasn't with me.

I found myself laying on my back staring up at the ceiling shocked by this sudden realization about myself. In the next room I could hear Kari playing DDR. Her footfalls echoed around inside my head along with the new thoughts slowly forming. There was no way I could keep this from Matt now that I knew it myself. I ad to tell him and I had to do it soon or I'd explode.

Winter break was coming up and most of the Digi-destined were planning on spending it in the digital world. I could tell him then (if I could keep from combusting before the end of the week). All I had to do was get him alone.

The different scenarios of how I would tell him and how it would turn out kept me awake for hours, but there's no objection that I enjoyed it.

Most people would probably wonder why I didn't text him or call if I missed him that much. I was simply so preoccupied with thinking about him that I didn't think to get in touch with him. Ironic, right? Yeah, well,,, that's how my mind works.

To say that the rest of that week almost drove be batty wanting to tell Matt would be completely true. I did find out what he'd been up to Monday night; turns out he'd gotten a job bussing tables in a restaurant. This meant that the rest of that week we could only hang out until six, then he had to leave and go to work. It made it easier not to spill my guts out but it also made me extremely fidgety and restless because I missed him like crazy. After he left I'd go take a bath and lay around my room fantasizing. I had this one that played on repeat about climbing into his lap and kissing him. And as you know, I'd already kissed him once so I knew what it was like. My imagination took it and ran with it until the images were burned into my memory.

Okay, I know what you want to know. You want me to hurry up and get to the good part, right? I thought so.

We were back in the digital world at a beach like we'd been last time, but this beach had a resort run by digimon we'd been friends with for a long time. Everyone was doubled up for rooms in the tiki huts, and of course Matt and I were paired up.

So you know how in the movies people wait until the very last available second to go through with it? Well I didn't do that. We'd gotten there Friday night for a luau and barbeque. It was great; we played charades, did limbo, the digimon tried to do Thriller. An all-around good time.

At about 8:30 Matt and I were sitting off by ourselves, both of us disqualified from the limbo competition.

"C'mon, let's go for a walk," I said, standing up and stretching. Matt didn't say anything, but he stood up and followed me to a path that lead through a trail of tropical plant, palm trees, and tiki torches. If it had been a movie we'd have stopped on the path, I'd confess, he'd burst into tear of joy, we'd kiss, cut to credits. What we did was walk until we'd left the scene behind completely, coming out on a cliff overlooking a cove.

"It's nice out here," Matt said, the first thing he'd said on the whole trip.

I nodded, letting my eyes ingest him from the corner. He looked serene as he gazed out over the moonlit water.

"This is the kinda place people dream of proposing at," Matt voiced with a chuckle.

"Yeah, a lot of girls would kill for the experience be here…" I trailed off, not wanting to finish the 'with you' part.

He turned his face towards me, and it was obvious there was something on his mind. The way the light fell across his skin brought on memory from that night in the park; before I knew exactly what I was doing I had closed the space between us. My arms slid over his shoulders and I very gently pressed my lips to his. There was no resistance. His hands came around my torso, pulling me closer so that our chests pressed together, and his tongue slid between my lips.

I'd never had a kiss like that before. With Mimi there was always urgency behind it, like she was desperate for the contact. There was nothing like that with Matt. It was slow, soft, more like savoring than anything else. I lost my head completely, so when we broke apart for air I was surprised to find myself laying on the grass propped on my elbows with Matt hovering over me.

I swiped my tongue over my numb lips and looked up at him. No part of me didn't want to touch him. I leaned up and kissed his forehead; when I leaned back down he was smiling, facing off to the side.

We must have spent at least and hour on the Cliffside before going back to our hut where we laid down together on his bed. Luckily, the digimon had their own rooms; I didn't think Agumon was ready for the news just yet.

The next morning I woke up to Matt's fingers combing through my hair. I rolled over and burrowed my face into his chest and muttered, "What are you doing?"

He kept up his finger work. "I've wanted to know what your hair feels like for years… It's soft."

I felt him nuzzling the top of my head and his next statement was muffled. "I like it."

I couldn't help but chuckle, moving my body close to his beneath the sheet. "Feel free to run your fingers through it as much as you want."

Matt pinned me to the bed, straddling my hips and holding my wrists to the mattress. He leaned in close so that I felt his breath on my ear.

"There's a few other places I'd like my fingers to run." His voice was low, nearly a growl really, and it did nothing to keep me from stiffening a bit. I knew he felt it and my face burned for a moment before his mouth was on my neck, hips grinding into my lap.

"Time for my shower!" I announced in a squeaky high pitch, leaping from the bed and running to the little bathroom. I could hear him laughing as I shut the door.

Half an hour later I came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around my hips. Matt was laying on his freshly-made bed fully dressed and listening to music. He had his eyes closed and arms behind his head.

I didn't think he knew I was there and I stood for a few seconds watching him in his relaxed state until I could finally drag my eyes away long enough to get dressed with my back to him. When I turned around Matt had turned on his side and presumably watched me get dressed.

"Since when do you take so long to shower?" Matt teased.

"Since you got my hormones racing first thing in the morning," I answered, which only made him smile.

"I wanna show you something," I said, taking hold of his wrist and giving it a tug. Matt stood up, letting me take him wherever I pleased. But instead of letting me pull him, Matt walked beside me, holding my hand in the early morning light.

We had to pass by T.K. and ken's hut to get where I wanted. The occupants were peeking out the window grinning at us; I smiled and stuck my tongue out at them. They made kissy faces. Matt yelled at them to go back to bed because such young boys needed rest.

"So where are you taking me?" Matt questioned after a couple of minutes of walking.

"You'll see," I responded cryptically.

I had been at this resort before when we were taking down the spires ken had set up, and during that time I happened to stumble upon a place even Soar would be able to like me at. At some point I'd considered taking Mimi there on a date just because I knew she'd like it. But I didn't take her. I guess I just didn't wanna share something I felt was so special with her. Maybe I'd known all along that she wasn't the one for me. Who knows…? I was just glad she'd opted out of the trip.

Matt's reaction was perfect. He didn't need to say anything for me to know that he understood and appreciated the cavernous cove the same way I had. From the solid stone ceiling a waterfall spilled into the water through a gaping hole through which the sky shown. Light reflected off the rippling, opaque turquoise water onto the light grey rock face veined in opal deposits.

We entered from the front of the cave where it flowed out into the salt less sea and walked around the water into the cave on a wide ridge of rock until we settled on the edge.

"I would've never pictured you as the visual type," Matt said, still drinking in our surroundings.

"I can see what's in front of me when I open my eyes to see it," I answered. He recognized the words and faced me. I held his hand a little tighter, watching the water fall from above. "If it weren't for you I'd still be in mourning for Mimi right now, even though she's not anything important. It's taken me a while to wake up to it, but I belong with you."

Matt cupped my cheek and turned my face towards him, leaning close. "I knew you wouldn't be blind forever."


End file.
